Drier



Jan, 29 1924. 1,482.2?4

' G. L. SPENCER Filed Sept. 28, 1922 vnu); 1 I1 ,vp/lll( 11 111/ IN VE N TOR A TTORIVEYS scription when taken in connection with thef Patented Jan., 29, 1924..

tiene -eiaica GUILFORD L. SPENCER, 0F HERRICKS, IJIAINE.

' i naine.

Application med september 2e, i922.. serialY iro. 591,144.

To all whom t may cfm-cern;

Be it known that l, GUILFoRnL. SPENCER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Herricks, in the county ofHancock and State of Maine, have invented a new and improved Drier, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a drier, and aims to provide a device of this nature by which an operator shall be enabled rapidly to determine the amount of moisture in laboratory tests of various substances.

A; further object of this invention is the provision of an oven which will enable the analyst to make rapid control tests in factory work and in laboratories generally.

Although this device may be used for determining the amount of moisture in any substance, the same is particularly adapted'foi use in connect-ion with tobacco and ibrous materials in which it is essential to carefully control the moisture content of in order that it may be kept within certain limits.

Such a drier was disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,348,757, issued to me.

rlhe object of the present invention is to provide a drier of a dilferent but practical and efficient structure, having important ad-` vantages peculiar toitself; all as will be,`

clearly understood from the following 'de-v acconipanying drawing showing as an example of the present invention, a preferred but merely illustrative embodiment.

In said drawingthe view shows suchdriei in vertical axial section.

The numeral 2 indicatesia casing prefer-f` ably provided with a removableV lidA such as j 3 and a suspended housing 4; such .casing and housing, when taken together, being` 'hereinafter referred toas the shell. u casing 2 is, in leifect, divided into an upperi and lower compartment 2a and Qbbypmeans of a transversepartition 5. Such partit-ion The is here downwardly dished V'and is solshaped as to support a single capsule, preferably of almost as largeA a diameter asV the diameterf of the casing; although it `will ber under@ stood, of course, that the present invention" may bercarriedout in connection with the use of a plurality of capsules at once. The partition or support 5 inthe presentl case has a single capsule seating shoulderas shown, surrounding the opening 6 at the joint with thesupport 5,

the product top of the support. The capsule is indicated at 7and is 1,provided withV a'bottom of gauze or' metal lter cloth; this capsule being ground' at its basal ange to make a tight ing between theinterior of the casing` 2 and the interior ofthe conical chamber established within the support 5, must pass through the interior of capsule 7.

The housing 4 is'pr'ovided with a bottoni cap 8 and threaded into openings in this cap are tubes 9 and l0, the interior of the horizontal tube'9 communicating with the interior ofthe cap itself, while tube l0 passes vertically "through such 'cap and extends above the same'through the center of housing 4, so that the upperend oftube l0 coininunicates, as shown, with the bottom of the conical chamber within support 5. The horizontal pipe 9 is here the air inlet and the vertical piperl() is here the air outlet. The air passing through the apparatus is indicated by the arrows. An exceedingly important feature of the. present invention, as will be explained more fully hereinafter, is the fact that a source of air under pressure, as for instance the force pump 9 l shown, Vfeeds the air inlet 9 of the new drier.

A condenser and recipient (not shown) may beconnected inV anyV suitable manner to the lower end of vertical pipe l0 when desired for condensing and collecting the distillate, as in the case of volatile oils which may be recovered and their amount determined.

llhe joint at the top of vertical tube l0 'i being, of course, a tight one, it will be seen that the ascending and Vdescending streams of air, `while they both have passages extending 4not only through casing 2 but throughfhousing 4, are entirely kept sepa' 7 rate the ascending ,air stream having an annular 'flow above the bottoni jcap 8 and so that all air pass-V (ill until it becomes ,transformed into the decending iowl when it reaches a point above the upper' edge of the capsule.

Such ascending air stream for a part of its course passes through an annular chamber locatedwbetween a core ll and aesleeve l2. TheV core Yll fixed on central vertical tube Vl() is of a material having heat-resisting and The sleeve l2 is molded dielectric qual-ities. into place' in housing 4 and is also of suit able heat-resisting and dielectric material. Arranged around coie ll is a spirally-wound resistance element 13 connected by leads as indicated, and in 'a1 manner well understood to be in circuit with a suitablesourceyof electriccurrent notA shown, suchcircuit hav-A 13, and, consequently, the temperature ot the air passing through the annular chamber surrounding core 11 and also the temperature yof the air circulating elsewhere through the apparatus.

The parts justl described, .and `particularly the parts 14 and elementsv described, are, t course, prefer.- able when 'electricity is available but it will be understood thatv where electricity not available, other heating means maybe used lin connection with the drier for the air circulating therethrough or air enteriorlyl heated by any suitable meanslmay be forced throughthe drier vin accordance' T'with the ,present invention, 'In this connection, it will be appreciatedy thatlrfacilities for 'iurnishing electricity to properly heat theresistance element y13 may not always be available or Athe useor' lelectricty may not be convenient or desirable. A

The covery 3 isprovided on its underside with a layerl of heat-resisting material,

conveniently asbestos.

4The cover isvp'rovided with'a knob 1,7,

preferably ot' heatunsulating material, and

also with La 'thermometer 1S having its'lower portion, whichffprojects into the' casing 2, housed .in a protecting'tube l19 of'h'eatlconducting material.

The casing f2 is ,preferably lcovered' by a Vheat-insulating (shield, not shown, such shield being ,conveniently tconstructed` 'of magnesiumor a similar' pipe covering material.

In operation, a weighed qiyia'nitity of the material ytobey tested is v-placed :in capsule 7 and distributed .over its `toraminous bottom in a ,layer of--suitable thickness and then air underpressure is admitted through the horizontalftube 9V so as to set up astrong current of air to pass over resista-ncerelement- 13, through the resistor otwhich electricfcurrentis flowing; this heatedaimunder pressure thereupon passinginto the-interior of casing 2, thence into Vthe interior of the capsule, thence through the material to 'be tested and the toraminous bottom of `the capsule, thence into the conicalV vchamber within kthe support 5 and below the capsule, and thence intothe vertical outlet pipe i l0 :for discharge tothe .atmosphere `or `to a suitable vcondenser. The temperature of the inlowing air .under pressure is regulated Y by -rheostat A15, suchregulation beingchecked by observationotthermometer 18. fAter a `sutlicientexposurefott the material .the

capsule to the current of heatedgair under pressure, running fromaboutlthree minutes v upwards, according to the nature of` the defined as 15 andthe other electrical 1 discontinued andthe loss of moisture during the drying is determined by the usualV laboratory methods. I have found that an apparatus as illustratively disclosed and as toessentials in the appended claims, permits such rapid desiccation that most materialsv will withstand liigliei'temperatures than in ordinary ovens.

`It will be seen that my present invention provides a drier having certain structural features similar to those of the drier of my saidPatent No. 1,348,757, but 4it will be observed lthat `my new drier differs therefrom essentiallyin that thecurrent of air is forced over the heating element and thence through the materiallto be dried, while important structural differences will be obvious in relation tosupporting means tor the capsule andthe design or" `tlieparts, whereby improved guiding and conning passages for subdivisions oiI the air lstream within the drier arefprovided, and whereby the parts last-mentioned facilitate a drier const-ruction of great economy in manu-facture and assembly. Asto the `importa-nt feature ot a new drier involving the use of a stream ot air which is not only heated but under positive pressure before it reaches the material to be tested, I have found that a continuous iiow ot air through the ventire apparatus setup by a positivepressure at the inlet, as here, rather than a flow of Vair through the drieiuestablished by` an induced current or suction at the outlet, as inmy said patent, results in a `markedly improved opera-tion. Asa :possible explanation for such improved operation,l I ma'ysay that'I have found that l ed occursr at adiffer'ent rate and in aditferent manner Vthan in driers ,as heretofore con- .l st ructed. I n this connectionI have observed that in ,ajdrier where the air flow through the same is established by setting up a pressure other than atmospheric at the outlet, the air stream( at the zone within the drier where lthe material to be tested islocated.

The .fea-ture of the present invention now being discussed, is based on my new discovery that an apparatus constructed as herein eX- plamed, may be used with great etliciency tor `very brief ydryingperiods and particularly inthe tobacco industry where incidentally it often occurs that a convenientfmeans of obtaining. suilicient suction is not available; provided onlythatthe drying period is made slightly ilonger than inanjapparatus constructed accordingto my saidlpatent. It

will accordingly be seen that various modi- Yfications of ythe apparatus shown in the aclos Va Vdrier of the companying drawing may be made, and even general structural type disclosed in the drawing of inyisaid Patent No. 1,348,757, may be equipped with air pressure means at the inlet and operated as eX- plained herein, within the scope of the pres ent inventionl as defined by the appended claims. I claim:

1. A drier, including a shell, a support therein fora capsule, a capsule on the 'suport said ca sule havinv a foraminous botp p C tom, an inlet and an outlet to theV casing, a continuous air passage between saidV inlet and outlet and including two subdivisions having the sidewall of the capsule as a common wall separatingthe two subdivisions at their junction, the foraminous bottom or' the capsule lying between said junction and the outlet, and means for increasing the tem.-

perature and pressure of air above theV atmospheric and admitting such air to the passage subdivision between the inlet and the capsule side-wall.

2. A drier, including a shell, a support therein for a capsule, a capsule on the support, said capsule having a foraminous bottom, an inlet and an outlet to the casing, a

Continous air passage between said inlet and outlet and including'two subdivisions having the side-wall of the capsule as a comside-Wall for heating said air under pressure.A

Y 3. A drier, including a shell, a support therein for acapsule, a capsule on the support, an inlet and an outlet to the casing, an

annular air passage interposed between the inlet and the capsule interior, and an air passage interposed between the bottom of the capsule and the outlet and surrounded by said annular air passage.

4. The drier defined in claim 3, wherein said support is downwardly dished below the capsule bottom to form an air chamber, said chamber communicating with the lastmentioned airpassage at its top.

5. The drier defined said shell includes an upper casing, said capsule is the only one in the shell, a tubular member is provided below the support for the last-mentioned air passage, and the support is shaped to provide a chamber below the capsule bottom, said tubular member carrying said support and opening into said chamber.

GUILFORD L. SPENCER.

in claim 3, wherein 

